Method and apparatus for locating a wireless local area network in a wide area network

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is directed to a mobile communication device that measures characteristics or attributes of a first communications network that vary according to physical location within that first communications network to create a fingerprint, or signature, of a location within the first communications network. When the fingerprint of the current location of the mobile device is created it can be compared to a known fingerprint associated with a second communication network to determine the mobile device&#39;s proximity to the second communications network. For example, the first communications network may be a CDMA wide area wireless communication network and the second communications network may be a 802.11 wireless LAN.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present application for patent claims priority to ProvisionalApplication No. 60/702,591 entitled, “ASSISTED WIRELESS NETWORK ACCESSPOINT SEARCH IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS”, filed Jul. 25, 2005,and Provisional Application No. 60/750,920 entitled, “METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR LOCATING A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK IN A WIDE AREANETWORK,” filed Dec. 16, 2005, and Provisional Application No.60/750,919 entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING A FINGERPRINTFOR A WIRELESS NETWORK,” filed Dec. 16, 2005, and assigned to theassignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to telecommunications, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods to support a mobile communicationsdevice capable of communicating via two different types of communicationnetworks.

2. Background

The demand for wireless information services has led to the developmentof an ever increasing number of wireless networks. CDMA2000 1x is justone example of a wireless network that provides wide area telephony anddata services. CDMA2000 1x is a wireless standard promulgated by theThird Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) using code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) technology. CDMA is a technology that allowsmultiple users to share a common communications medium usingspread-spectrum processing. A competing wireless network that iscommonly employed in Europe is Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM). Unlike CDMA2000 1x, GSM uses narrowband time division multipleaccess (TDMA) to support wireless telephony and data services. Someother wireless networks include General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)which supports high speed data services with data rates suitable fore-mail and web browsing applications, and Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) which can deliver broadband voice anddata for audio and video applications.

These wireless networks can generally be thought of as wide areanetworks employing cellular technology. Cellular technology is based ona topology in which the geographic coverage region is broken up intocells. Within each of these cells is a fixed base transceiver station(BTS) that communicates with mobile users. A base station controller(BSC) is typically employed in the geographic coverage region to controlthe BTSs and route communications to the appropriate gateways for thevarious packet-switched and circuit-switched networks.

As the demand for wireless information services continue to increase,mobile devices are evolving to support integrated voice, data, andstreaming media while providing seamless network coverage between widearea wireless networks (WANs) and wireless local area networks (LAN).Wireless LANs generally provide telephony and data services overrelatively small geographic regions using a standard protocol, such asIEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, or the like. The existence of wireless LANsprovides a unique opportunity to increase user capacity in a wide areawireless network by extending wide area communications to the unlicensedspectrum using the infrastructure of the wireless LAN.

Recently, various techniques have been employed to enable mobile devicesto communicate with different wireless networks. Additional techniqueshave been employed to allow a mobile device to search for the presenceof a wireless LAN to determine if one is available to connect to.However, frequent or continuous searching for a wireless LANunnecessarily consumes power and can quickly discharge batteries in themobile device. Accordingly, improvements in power consumption andbattery life for mobile devices may be realized by intelligentlysearching for available wireless LANs.

SUMMARY

One aspect of a wireless communications device is disclosed. Thewireless communications device includes memory configured to storeinformation relating to a first communications network, and a processorconfigured to determine whether the wireless communications device is inthe vicinity of the first communications network based on theinformation stored in the memory and one or more reference signals froma second communications network.

Another aspect of a wireless communications device is disclosed. Thecommunications device includes memory configured to store informationrelating to a plurality of wireless LANs dispersed through a WAN, and aprocessor configured to determine whether the wireless communicationsdevice is in the vicinity of one of the wireless LANs based on theinformation stored in the memory and one or more reference signals fromthe WAN.

Computer readable media embodying a program of instructions executableby a computer to perform a method of communications is disclosed. Themethod includes accessing information in memory, the informationrelating to a first communications network, receiving one or morereference signals from a second communications network, and determiningwhether a wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the firstcommunications network based on the information accessed from the memoryand the one or more reference signals from the second communicationsnetwork.

A method of communications is disclosed. The method including accessinginformation in memory, the information relating to a firstcommunications network, receiving one or more reference signals from asecond communications network, and determining whether a wirelesscommunications device is in the vicinity of the first communicationsnetwork based on the information accessed from the memory and the one ormore reference signals from the second communications network.

A further aspect of a wireless communications device is disclosed. Thewireless communications device includes means for storing informationrelating to a first communications network, and means for determiningwhether the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of thefirst communications network based on the information and one or morereference signals from a second communications network.

It is understood that other embodiments of the present disclosure arewithin scope of the following detailed description, wherein it is shownand described only various embodiments of the disclosure by way ofillustration. As will be realized, the disclosure is capable of otherand different embodiments and its several details are capable ofmodification in various other respects, all without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawingsand detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in natureand not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of a wireless communications system are illustrated byway of example, and not by way of limitation, in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is a conceptual block diagram of an embodiment of a wirelesscommunications system;

FIG. 1B is a conceptual block diagram of another embodiment of awireless communications system;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a mobiledevice capable of supporting both wide area wireless and wireless LANcommunications; and

FIG. 3A depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method to createfingerprints on a mobile communications device;

FIG. 3B depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method to comparefingerprints of different locations; and

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method to refine an existingfingerprint for a known location.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various embodiments of thedisclosure and is not intended to represent the only embodiments inwhich the disclosure may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof the disclosure. In some instances, well known structures andcomponents are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuringthe concepts of the disclosure.

In the following detailed description, various techniques will bedescribed in connection with the handoff of a mobile user from onenetwork to another. A number of these techniques will be described inthe context of a mobile communications device traveling through a widearea WAN with one or more wireless LANs dispersed throughout the WANcoverage region. The mobile communications device may be any suitabledevice capable of wireless telephony or data communications, such as acellular phone designed for operation in a CDMA2000 1x network. Themobile communications device may be capable of employing any suitableprotocol for accessing a wireless LAN, including, by way of example,IEEE 802.11. While these techniques may be described in the context of aWAN phone capable of communicating with an IEEE 802.11 network, thesetechniques can be extended to other mobile communication devices capableof accessing multiple networks. For instance, these techniques may beapplied to a mobile communications device capable of switching between aCDMA2000 1x network and a GSM network. Accordingly, any reference to acellular phone capable of communicating with an IEEE 802.11 network, orany other specific embodiment, is intended only to illustrate variousaspects of the present disclosure, with the understanding that theseaspects have a wide range of applications.

FIG. 1A is a conceptual block diagram of an embodiment of a wirelesscommunications system. A mobile device 102 is shown moving through a WAN104 by a series of broken lines. The WAN 104 includes a BSC 106supporting a number of BTSs dispersed throughout the WAN coverageregion. A single BTS 108 is shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity ofexplanation. A mobile switching center (MSC) 110 may be used to providea gateway to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 112. Althoughnot shown in FIG. 1, the WAN 104 may employ numerous BSCs eachsupporting any number of BTSs to extend the geographic reach of the WAN104. When multiple BSCs are employed throughout the WAN 104, the MSC 110may also be used to coordinate communications between the BSCs.

The WAN 104 may also include one or more wireless LANs dispersedthroughout the wide area wireless coverage region. A single wireless LAN114 is shown in FIG. 1. The wireless LAN 114 may be an IEEE 802.11network, or any other suitable network. The wireless LAN 114 includes anaccess point 116 for the mobile device 102 to communicate with an IPnetwork 118. A server 120 may be used to interface the IP network 118 tothe MSC 110, which provides a gateway to the PSTN 112.

When power is initially applied to the mobile device 102, it willattempt to access either the WAN 104 or the wireless LAN 114. Thedecision to access a particular network may depend on a variety offactors relating to the specific application and overall designconstraints. By way of example, the mobile device 102 may be configuredto access the wireless LAN 114 when the service quality meets a minimumthreshold. To the extent the wireless LAN 114 can be used to supportmobile telephony and data communications, valuable bandwidth may befreed up for other mobile users.

The mobile device 102 may be configured to continuously or periodicallysearch for a beacon from the access point 116, or any other access pointof a wireless LAN. The beacon is a periodic signal transmitted by theaccess point 116 with synchronization information. WLAN beacon searchrequires the mobile device to in turn tune to possible WLAN channels, inone or more operable bands of a WLAN system, and conduct either anactive scan or a passive scan on the channel. In a passive scan themobile device just tunes to the channel and receives for a specificperiod of time waiting for a beacon transmission. In an active scan, themobile device tunes to the channel and transmits a probe request afterfollowing the access procedures to avoid colliding with existing deviceson the channel. On receipt of the probe request the access pointtransmits a probe response to the mobile device. In the event that themobile device 102 cannot detect a beacon or receives no probe responseto a probe request, which might be the case if power is applied to themobile device 102 at location A, then the mobile device 102 attempts toaccess the WAN 104. With respect to FIG. 1B, described later, the mobiledevice 102 does not continuously (or periodically) scan for a WLANaccess point but, instead, scans for a WLAN access point only when itdetermines it is close to the wireless LAN 114. The mobile device 102may access the WAN 104 by acquiring a pilot signal from the BTS 108.Once the pilot signal is acquired, a radio connection may be establishedbetween the mobile device 102 and the BTS 108 by means well known in theart. The mobile device 102 may use the radio connection with the BTS 108to register with the MSC 110. Registration is the process by which themobile device 102 makes its whereabouts known to the WAN 104. When theregistration process is complete, the mobile device 102 may enter intoan idle state until a call is initiated, either by the mobile device 102or the PSTN 112. Either way, an air traffic link may be establishedbetween the mobile device 102 and the BTS 108 to set up and support thecall.

When the mobile device 102 moves through the WAN 104 from location A tolocation B in the depicted embodiment, it is now able to detect a beaconfrom the access point 116. Once this occurs, a radio connection may beestablished between the two by means well known in the art. The mobiledevice 102 then obtains the IP address of the server 120. The mobiledevice 102 may use the services of a Domain Name Server (DNS) todetermine the server's IP address. The domain name of the server 120 maybe delivered to the mobile device 102 over the WAN 104. With the IPaddress, the mobile device 102 can establish a network connection withthe server 120. Once the network connection is established, informationfrom the server 120 can be used in conjunction with local measurementsto determine whether the service quality of the wireless LAN 114 issufficient to handoff the mobile device 102 to the access point 116.

It should be noted, that while FIG. 1A is generally descriptive of acellular WAN, other WANs may be utilized. This may include those that donot utilize MSCs or other cellular structures, and those WANs utilizingother communication protocols including wideband CDMA (WCDMA), TD-CDMA,GSM, or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 1B, the wireless LAN 114 and BTS 108 are shown inthe context of a larger WAN having multiple BTS 122, 124, 126 and alsomultiple wireless LANs 129, 131 and associated access points 128, 130.As shown in FIG. 1B, the mobile device 102 is within the coverage areaof any wireless LAN. Accordingly, searching for a beacon signal while inthis location will prove fruitless and unnecessarily consume power. Eventhough the mobile device may frequently enter a sleep or idle mode toconserve power, searching for wireless LAN beacon signals can quicklyconsume power. In a typical 802.11 network configuration, the beaconsignals occur at intervals measured in tens of milliseconds; thus, themobile device must remain awake and searching for at least that periodof time per channel and considering that the wireless LAN access pointmay be configured for different frequency ranges and channels withinthose ranges, the mobile device 102 must remain awake a significantamount of time to search for available wireless LAN access points.Similarly, in the case of an active scan, the mobile device must stayawake to follow the channel access procedures on the channel, thentransmit a probe request and stay awake to receive a probe response. Itmust conduct this procedure on each channel. In this case as well, themobile device 102 must remain awake a significant amount of time tosearch for available wireless LAN access points, which may result inincreased power consumption and processing overhead.

However, by limiting searching for beacon signals to periods when themobile device is within the area 140, a significant savings in powerconsumption may be realized. Thus, when the mobile device 102periodically awakes to listen to the paging channel or a quick pagingchannel in the WAN it may also determine its location. If it determinesthat its location is within the area 140, then it can search for awireless LAN beacon signal. Otherwise, it can avoid unnecessarilysearching for the beacon signal.

A mobile device 102 may monitor beacon and pilot signals from the basestations of the WAN. These signals can include pilot and paging signals.The mobile device monitors these signals to measure primary and neighborsignal strengths to perform hand-offs between base stations. Also, innetworks where the base stations are synchronized, the mobile device mayalso measure a phase of each pilot signal to assist with hand-offdetermination. Thus, at any location within the network 104, the mobiledevice 102 observes up to n base stations with measurable signalstrengths which can be characterized as two vectors x₁, . . . , x_(n),and y₁, . . . , y_(n). Where each x value is a signal strength of apilot signal from a base station and each y value is a phase of thepilot signal from a base station. When there are fewer than n observedsignals, the remaining values are set to null. Because the pilot signalshave a pilot phase offset associated with them, the signal strengths andphases may be easily identified as originating from a particular basestation. In other WAN technologies like GSM, the neighbors base stationsmay be identified by their frequency channel or other base stationidentifier and a signal strength associated with each base station. Incertain aspects, any signal utilized for acquisition, timing, or thelike may be utilized as the signal that is utilized to obtain themeasurements to form the one or more vectors described above. Further,the vectors need not be formed, stored, or utilized as two vectors asdescribed, or include the information in the format described above.Thus, in some aspects, information that identifies a source and at leastone characteristic of the reference signal, e.g. pilot or paging signal,is utilized.

As is known in the art, the mobile device 102 monitors beacon and pilotsignals from the base stations of the cellular network. These signalscan include pilot and paging signals. The mobile device monitors thesesignals to measure primary and neighbor signal strengths to performhand-offs between base stations. Also, in networks where the basestations are synchronized, the mobile device may also measure a phase ofeach pilot signal to assist with hand-off determination. Thus, at anylocation within the network 104, the mobile device 102 observes up to nbase stations with measurable signal strengths which can becharacterized as two vectors x₁, . . . , x_(n), and y₁, . . . , y_(n).Where each x value is a signal strength of a pilot signal from a basestation and each y value is a phase of the pilot signal from a basestation. When there are fewer than n observed signals, the remainingvalues are set to null. Because the pilot signals have a pilot phaseoffset associated with them, the signal strengths and phases may beeasily identified as originating from a particular base station. Inother WAN technologies like GSM, the neighbors base stations may beidentified by their frequency channel or other base station identifierand a signal strength associated with each base station.

In WCDMA, base stations may not be synchronized. As in CDMA, when themobile camps in the idle state on the paging channel of a particularbase station, it scans for neighbor base station signals. In the case ofCDMA each base station uses offsets of the same pseudo-random spreadingsequence. In the case of WCDMA, each base station transmits a number ofsignals designed to allow the mobile station to rapidly acquiresynchronization with the signals transmitted by that base station andonce synchronized determine the spreading code group and spreading codein use by that base station. The set of spreading codes and their signalstrengths may be used to create the fingerprint to identify a locationin WCDMA coverage corresponding topilot offsets and pilot signalstrengths in the CDMA system. Relative timing offsets of neighbor basestations may also be used corresponding to pilot phases in CDMA,however, if the base stations are not synchronized, their clocks mayhave relative drift making the timing offset an unreliable indicator.

The information may be utilized as a conceptual a fingerprint, or asignature, of a location of the mobile device 102. Thus, if locationswithin the area 140 have a certain known fingerprint, then the mobiledevice can determine its current fingerprint and compare it to the knownfingerprint to determine whether the mobile device is located within thearea 140. While the above discussion merely mentions using twoattributes of the WAN (i.e., pilot signal strength and phases). Further,as discussed above, other dynamic attributes of the WAN may be usedinstead of, or in combination with, these two attributes. For example,pilot offset values may be used as a fingerprint; even the number ofpilot signals available is a possible attribute to be used for afingerprint. Furthermore, the attributes that make up the fingerprint donot necessarily have to be attributes of the WAN. For example, manymobile devices have GPS receivers that can be used to determine thelocation of the mobile device relative to a wireless LAN. The GPSinformation may be used directly or even indirectly. As one example ofthe latter case, a base station ID along with phase measurements of GPSsignals from different satellites may be used to define a fingerprintthat corresponds to a location of the mobile device. Thus, in itsbroadest sense, a fingerprint is a collection of attributes of a firstcommunication network that change based on location and can be used bythe mobile device to determine the proximity of a second communicationnetwork. In addition, the fingerprint can also include characteristicsof the transmitters of the second communication networks (e.g. MAC ID,Band, Channel, RSSI information of the WiFi access points.) In such aninstance, the WAN parameters may be thought of as trigger parameterssuch that a match of the parameters triggers a WLAN search. The WLANparameters can be used during the search as the search parameters forthe triggered search.

The attributes may be calculated in a variety of different ways withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, aninstantaneous measurement may be taken of such attributes as pilotsignal strength and phase and used as the fingerprint. However, evenwhen the mobile device is stationary, the values of these attributesvary because of environmental variability. Accordingly, multiplemeasurements may be taken and averaged together or otherwise combined insome statistically significant manner in order to generate thefingerprint.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a mobiledevice capable of supporting both WAN and wireless LAN communications.The mobile device 102 may include a WAN transceiver 202 and a wirelessLAN transceiver 204. In at least one embodiment of the mobile device102, the WAN transceiver 202 is capable of supporting CDMA2000 1x,WCDMA, GSM, TD-CDMA, or other WAN communications with a BTS (not shown),and the wireless LAN transceiver 204 is capable of supporting IEEE802.11 communications with an access point (not shown). It should benoted, that the concepts described in connection with the mobile device102 can be extended to other WAN and wireless LAN technologies. Eachtransceiver 202, 204 is shown with a separate antenna 206, 207,respectively, but the transceivers 202, 204 could share a singlebroadband antenna. Each antenna 206, 207 may be implemented with one ormore radiating elements.

The mobile device 102 is also shown with a processor 208 coupled to bothtransceivers 202, 204, however, a separate processor may be used foreach transceiver in alternative embodiments of the mobile device 102.The processor 208 may be implemented as hardware, firmware, software, orany combination thereof. By way of example, the processor 208 mayinclude a microprocessor (not shown). The microprocessor may be used tosupport software applications that, among other things, (1) control andmanage access to the wide area wireless communication network andwireless LAN, and (2) interface the processor 208 to the keypad 210,display, 212, and other user interfaces (not shown). The processor 208may also include a digital signal processor (DSP) (not shown) with anembedded software layer that supports various signal processingfunctions, such as convolutional encoding, cyclic redundancy check (CRC)functions, modulation, and spread-spectrum processing. The DSP may alsoperform vocoder functions to support telephony applications. The mannerin which the processor 208 is implemented will depend on the particularapplication and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Itshould be noted that the hardware, firmware, and software configurationsmay interchangeable under these circumstances, and how best to implementthe described functionality for each particular application.

The processor 208 may be configured to execute an algorithm to trigger ahandoff from one network to another. The algorithm may be implemented asone or more software applications supported by the microprocessor basedarchitecture discussed earlier. Alternatively, the algorithm may be amodule separate from the processor 208. The module may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Depending onthe specific design constraints, the algorithm could be integrated intoany entity in the mobile device 102, or distributed across multipleentities in the mobile device 102.

For certain purposes known in the art, the signal strength from theaccess point may be measured at the mobile device 102 with a receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI) block 216. The RSSI is most likely ameasure of strength of an existing signal that is fed back to thewireless LAN transceiver 204 for automatic gain control, and therefore,can be provided to the processor 208 without increasing the circuitcomplexity of the mobile device 102. Alternatively, the quality of theradio connection may be determined from the beacon. Since the beacon isa spread-spectrum signal that is known, a priori, a replica of thebeacon can be stored in memory 211 at the mobile device 102. Thedemodulated beacon may be used with the replica beacon stored in memoryto estimate the energy of the transmitted beacon by means well known inthe art.

Referring back to the previously mentioned fingerprints, the mobiledevice 102 also includes an algorithm executable by the processor 208for creating multiple fingerprints and comparing different fingerprintsto one another. For example, using the keypad 212, a user of the mobiledevice 102 may select a key that causes the mobile device 102 to createa current fingerprint and store that fingerprint in memory 211. If atthe time the fingerprint is created, the mobile device is connected to awireless LAN, then the stored fingerprint may be associated with thatwireless LAN access point. In addition, the fingerprint can also berecorded automatically on a periodic basis or at programmatic eventssuch as successful access, successful access with desired quality ofservice, etc.

As a result of the above process, the memory 211 may contain a wirelessLAN search table arranged, for example, similar to the following table:WAN WLAN ID SSID WLAN BSS ID Signal Strength Phase A I1 A₁ s₁(A₁) . . .s_(n)(A₁) p₁(A₁) . . . p_(n)(A₁) A₂ s₁(A₂) . . . s_(n)(A₂) p₁(A₂) . . .p_(n)(A₂) I2 A₃ s₁(A₃) . . . s_(n)(A₃) p₁(A₃) . . . p_(n)(A₃) B I1 B₁S₁(B₁) . . . s_(n)(B₁) I2 B₂ S₁(B₂) . . . s_(n)(B₂)

The first column of the table refers to the WAN ID of the WAN. The WANID identifies the system and network for the WAN known as the SID/NID inthe wide area wireless system. The particular base stations in the WANmay be identified by the pilot offsets, pilot signal strengths or otherattribute which are part of the finger print as discussed below. Thefingerprint identifies the location of the mobile device. The secondcolumn refers to the text identifier of the WLAN network. The thirdidentifier refers to wireless LAN access points (also known as BSS). Inthe exemplary table there are three access points (A₁, A₂, A₃) withinthe first coverage area of base station A. Similarly, there are twoaccess points within the coverage area of the base station B. There may,of course, be many more wireless LANs within the areas covered by anyWAN ID but the user of the mobile device may not be interested in thoseaccess points because they are associated with wireless LANs that theuser may not be permitted to access. Accordingly, the table may merelyinclude a fingerprint for those access points to which the usertypically connects.

The two remaining columns include the values that comprise thefingerprint itself. In this example table the fingerprints for theaccess points A₁, A₂, and A₃ include both strength and phaseinformation. However, the fingerprints for the access points B₁ and B₂comprise only signal strength information. Also note that although eachfingerprint in this table is denoted by a vector of length n, there maybe less than n non-null components of the vector. That is, severalvalues may be null so that the fingerprint comparison is restricted tothe vector components that ate not null. In operation, a mobile devicemay awaken from a sleep or idle mode and calculate a fingerprint for itscurrent location and compare it to the information in columns 4 and 5 inthe table. The mobile device typically limits the fingerprint match toentries corresponding to the WAN ID with which it is currentlyregistered. Thus, when registered with WAN ID A, only fingerprintsassociated with WAN ID A in the table are used for matching. Thefingerprint creation and comparison may take place during ongoing callsas well. Based on the comparison, the mobile device may determine thatan access point with SSID and BSSID indicated in columns 1 and 2 is nearenough to search for its beacon signal; otherwise it may return to idlemode without bothering to search for a wireless LAN beacon signal.

The above table is exemplary in nature and does not describe all thepossible information that may be used to characterize a fingerprint norall the different combinations of WAN IDs versus access point IDs. orexample, since most areas are covered by multiple WAN service providerseach with its own WAN ID (SID/NID), a table entry for an access pointmay occur multiple times associated with different WAN IDs with arespective signature in each. In addition to the table depicted above, aseparate table (or possibly additional entries in the original table)may be used to store information about the corresponding access point(i.e., the BSS ID). For example, a wireless LAN access point typicallyis configured to operate on one particular channel in a particularfrequency band. Rather than requiring a mobile device to search throughthe different possible combinations, the table can contain thatoperational information for the access point so that the mobile devicecan use it to search for the beacon signal. Other information about theaccess point may include its capabilities such as security, quality ofservice, throughput and networking information.

The creation of the fingerprint table is described with reference to theflowchart of FIG. 3A. In step 302, the mobile device connects to awireless LAN. Without the benefit of any pre-stored fingerprints, themobile device scans for a WLAN access point in the typical way. Once themobile device has connected with the access point, the user may, in step304, signal to the device to capture the current fingerprint. This stepmay typically be user-initiated because the user may want only certainwireless LANs to be stored in the fingerprint database such as thosewireless LANs that the user normally subscribes to or connects. However,the creating of a fingerprint may be automatically initiated by themobile device as one of the many steps performed when connecting to thewireless LAN.

In step 306, the mobile device captures the values for those attributesthat comprise the fingerprint and, in step 308, the device stores thefingerprint in a database. Along with the fingerprint, it isadvantageous to store attributes of the currently connected wireless LANas well.

The comparison of a current fingerprint to a stored fingerprint can beperformed in a variety of ways without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. One particular technique is described below.However, many alternative, but functionally equivalent, techniques maybe used as well.

The attributes that make up the fingerprint may have values that vary(even for the same location) or are difficult to measure with a highdegree of accuracy. Thus, a comparison between fingerprints should notrely on exact duplicity as a test to determine a match. Similarly, theregion 140 may reflect an operational decision to place more importanceon detecting access points earlier at the expense of false alarms. Inother words, if the region 140 is selected to be much larger than theregion 114, then a mobile device 102 will determine that it shouldsearch for a beacon signal at time when it is not within the region 114(i.e., a false alarm). If, however, the region 140 is selected toclosely mimic the region 114, then there will be instances where themobile device should be searching for a beacon signal but thefingerprint matching algorithm has not yet instructed it to search.

To handle such variability of the fingerprints, a “deviation” amount isdefined that helps control the determination of whether a fingerprintmatches a stored fingerprint. WLAN Signal Strength Phase WAN ID BSS IDStrength Deviation Phase Deviation A A₁ s₁(A₁) . . . s_(n)(A₁) d₁(A₁) .. . d_(n)(A₁) p₁(A₁) . . . p_(n)(A₁) q₁(A₁) . . . q_(n)(A₁) A₂ s₁(A₂) .. . s_(n)(A₂) d₁(A₂) . . . d_(n)(A₂) p₁(A₂) . . . p_(n)(A₂) q₁(A₂) . . .q_(n)(A₂) A₃ s₁(A₃) . . . s_(n)(A₃) d₁(A₃) . . . d_(n)(A₃) p₁(A₃) . . .p_(n)(A₃) q₁(A₃) . . . q_(n)(A₃)

The above table includes a deviation value for the signal strength and aseparate deviation value for the phase portion of the fingerprint. Useof these values is explained with respect to the flowchart of FIG. 3B.In step 320, the mobile device awakens or is otherwise controlled tocapture a fingerprint of its current location. Continuing the examplewhere the fingerprint has a vector for signal strengths and one forphases, a pair of vectors are collected x₁ . . . x_(n) and y₁ . . .y_(n).

In step 322, the current WAN ID is checked and the table entries foraccess points associated with that WAN ID are determined. Further searchrefinements are possible by searching the database for identifiers ofthe observable pilots. For the CDMA network the search criterion can bePN phase offsets of the observable pilots. Next the fingerprint for eachof these access points is then compared, in step 324, to the currentfingerprint to determine if there is a match. Algorithmically, thecomparison and determination is performed by: For i = 1 to n:   determine if | x_(i) − s_(i)(·)| < d_(i)(·)    determine if | y_(i) −p_(i)(·)| < q_(i)(·)Thus, the deviation values d and q can be used to select how closely thecurrent finger print (x and y vectors) must match a stored finger print(s and p vectors). The larger the deviation values, the more the valuescan differ and there still be a match.

If there is a match at step 324, in step 326 an optional comparison maybe made to determine whether the sum of all differences for a givenaccess point (e.g. |x_(i)−s_(i)(·)| and |y₁−p_(i)(·)|) also fall below arespective threshold (e.g., X and Y). This additional test can helpcatch certain scenarios where the individual differences may show amatch but when the fingerprint is considered in total, it can bedetermined that there is no match.

If the tests of steps 324 and 326 are satisfied for a wireless LANaccess point in the table, then the mobile device is controlled so as tosearch for the beacon signals of that access point. If there is no matchat steps 324 or 326, the mobile device continues to look for a match onanother fingerprint for another BSS ID. In an instance where possiblymore than one access point fingerprint matches the current locationfingerprint, then the sizes of the differences, or the sum of thedifferences, or some other determination may be made to select theaccess point with the fingerprint that most closely matches the currentfingerprint. In this case of multiple matches, when the mobile devicescans for WLAN access points it may locate one or more access points.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for refining afingerprint entry. In step 402, the mobile device, after searching forand acquiring the beacon signal, connects to the access point of thewireless LAN as is known in the art. The access point has a MAC addressthat is used as its BSS ID. Other identifiers may be used todifferentiate between different access points; however, the BSS ID is aconvenient value. Thus, in step 404, the mobile device determines if theaccess point to which it is connected has an entry in the fingerprinttable. If not, a current fingerprint can be generated (see FIG. 3A) andthen stored, in step 406. If a fingerprint entry already exists for theaccess point, then the current fingerprint may be used to refine thestored fingerprint, in step 408. As part of the refinement process, thedeviations values, if present, may be refined as well, in step 410.

The refinement process uses the current fingerprint to modify the storedfingerprint so that the stored fingerprint, instead of representingmerely the first time that access point was found, actually benefitsfrom the values measured during the multiple times the access point wasfound. One example of such a refinement may be described with referenceto the signal strength parameter but applies equally well to the phaseparameter or any other attribute that is used to create the fingerprint.According to this method, a record of the number of times thefingerprint has been updated is maintained as well. In this example, thefingerprint for access point A₁ is updated for the K^(th) time. Thefingerprint includes the vector s₁(A₁) . . . s_(n)(A₁) and the currentfingerprint includes the vector x₁, . . . , x_(n). Each value of the svector is updated according to the formula:new s_(i)=[(K−1)(old s _(i))+x _(i) ]/KThis type of running average refinement is merely exemplary in natureand there are many accepted mathematical techniques that could be usedto refine a fingerprint value without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. A refinement to the fingerprint may also beaccomplished by adding values for a new attribute (e.g., the number ofmeasurable pilot signals) to the fingerprint instead of, or in additionto, changing existing values.

The deviation values may be refined as well. For example, the initialdeviation values may be a default value. Such as, for example, 10 dB(for signal strength) or the default value for a deviation may bevariable such as 5% of the fingerprint value. In this example, themeasured deviation vector between the x and s vectors is a vector m₁, .. . , m_(n). The new deviation value d_(i) is calculated byMAX[(previous d_(i)), m_(i), (default d_(i)/SQRT(K))].

In the above examples, the mobile device generates the fingerprints andstores a fingerprint database. However, some or all of the fingerprintsmay alternatively be stored somewhere further up the wide area wirelesscommunication network such as a database 111 accessible by the MSC 110.In this instance, the processing requirements and storage requirementsmay be reduced for the mobile device. In operation, the mobile devicewould create a current fingerprint and transmit that fingerprint to theMSC (or BSC possibly if the database was there). The MSC would thenperform the fingerprint comparison and instruct the mobile devicewhether or not to search for an access point beacon signal. In thisarrangement, the MSC could receive fingerprints from multiple mobiledevices and have a much larger database of available access points thanwould be found in a single mobile device. Alternatively, a personalizedfingerprint database may be created for each user of the wide areawireless communication network and stored at their home system.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, elements,and/or components described in connection with the embodiments disclosedherein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor,a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or otherprogrammable logic component, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor maybe a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computingcomponents, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunctionwith a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The methods or algorithms described in connection with the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. A storagemedium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can readinformation from, and write information to, the storage medium. In thealternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.

The previous description provides certain exemplary aspects andembodiments. Various modifications to these embodiments and aspects arewithin the scope of the disclosure and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the claims are notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to beaccorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, whereinreference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one andonly one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Allstructural and functional equivalents to the elements of the variousembodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known or latercome to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to bededicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure isexplicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construedunder the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless theelement is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in thecase of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “stepfor.”

1. A wireless communications device, comprising: memory configured tostore information relating to a first communications network; and aprocessor configured to determine whether the wireless communicationsdevice is in the vicinity of the first communications network based onthe information stored in the memory and one or more reference signalsreceived from a second communications network.
 2. The wirelesscommunications device of claim 1 wherein the information includes afingerprint.
 3. The wireless communications device of claim 2 whereinthe processor is further configured to determine whether the wirelesscommunications device is in the vicinity of the first communicationsnetwork by creating a fingerprint for the wireless communications deviceusing the one or more reference signals from the second communicationsnetwork, and comparing the fingerprint for the wireless communicationsdevice to the fingerprint stored in the memory.
 4. The wirelesscommunications device of claim 1 wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to use relative phase information from the one or morereference signals to determine whether the wireless communicationsdevice is in the vicinity of the first communications network.
 5. Thewireless communications device of claim 1 wherein the processor isfurther configured to use relative signal strength of the one or morereference signals to determine whether the wireless communicationsdevice is in the vicinity of the first communications network.
 6. Thewireless communications device of claim 1 wherein one or more referencesignals comprise pilot signals.
 7. A wireless communications device,comprising: memory configured to store information relating to aplurality of wireless LANs dispersed through a WAN; and a processorconfigured to determine whether the wireless communications device is inthe vicinity of one of the wireless LANs based on the information storedin the memory and one or more reference signals from the WAN.
 8. Thewireless communications device of claim 7 wherein the informationincludes a fingerprint for each of the wireless LANs.
 9. The wirelesscommunications device of claim 8 wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine whether the wireless communications device is inthe vicinity of said one of the wireless LANs by creating a fingerprintfor the wireless communications device using the one or more referencesignals from the WAN, and comparing the fingerprint for the wirelesscommunications device to the fingerprint stored in the memory for saidone of the wireless LANs.
 10. The wireless communications device ofclaim 7 wherein the processor is further configured to use relativephase information from the one or more reference signals to determinewhether the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of saidone of the wireless LANs.
 11. The wireless communications device ofclaim 7 wherein the processor is further configured to use relativesignal strength of the one or more reference signals to determinewhether the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of thefirst communications network.
 12. The wireless communications device ofclaim 7 wherein one or more reference signals comprise pilot signals.13. Computer readable media embodying a program of instructionsexecutable by a computer to perform a method of communications, themethod comprising: accessing information in memory, the informationrelating to a first communications network; processing one or morereference signals received from a second communications network; anddetermining whether a wireless communications device is in the vicinityof the first communications network based on the information accessedfrom the memory and the one or more reference signals from the secondcommunications network.
 14. The computer readable media of claim 13wherein the information accessed from the memory includes a fingerprint,and wherein the determination of whether the wireless communicationsdevice is in the vicinity of the first communications network furthercomprises creating a fingerprint for the wireless communications deviceusing the one or more reference signals from the second communicationsnetwork, and comparing the fingerprint for the wireless communicationsdevice to the fingerprint stored in the memory.
 15. The computerreadable media of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises creatingthe information by detecting the first communications network during asearch, establishing a fingerprint for the first communications networkusing the one or more reference signals from the second communicationsnetwork, and storing the fingerprint in the memory.
 16. A method ofcommunications, comprising: accessing information in memory, theinformation relating to a first communications network; receiving one ormore reference signals from a second communications network; anddetermining whether a wireless communications device is in the vicinityof the first communications network based on the information accessedfrom the memory and the one or more reference signals from the secondcommunications network.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein theinformation accessed from the memory includes a fingerprint, and whereinthe determination of whether the wireless communications device is inthe vicinity of the first communications network further comprisescreating a fingerprint for the wireless communications device using theone or more reference signals from the second communications network,and comparing the fingerprint for the wireless communications device tothe fingerprint stored in the memory.
 18. The method of claim 16 furthercomprising creating the information by detecting the firstcommunications network during a search, establishing a fingerprint forthe first communications network using the one or more reference signalsfrom the second communications network, and storing the fingerprint inthe memory.
 19. The method of claim 16 wherein the one or more referencesignals comprise pilot signals.
 20. A wireless communications device,comprising: means for storing information relating to a firstcommunications network; and means for determining whether the wirelesscommunications device is in the vicinity of the first communicationsnetwork based on the information and one or more reference signals froma second communications network.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20 whereinthe one or more reference signals comprise pilot signals.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 20 wherein the information accessed from the memoryincludes a fingerprint, and wherein the means for determining comprisesmeans for creating a fingerprint for the wireless communications deviceusing the one or more reference signals from the second communicationsnetwork, and comparing the fingerprint for the wireless communicationsdevice to the fingerprint stored in the memory.